Visit To Mount Snow Found Excellent Skiing And Riding

At A Glance

Where

Mount Snow Resort, 39 Mount Snow Road, West Dover, VT, 05356

A day trip to Mount Snow in West Dover, Vt., last Sunday, Jan. 30, found some of the best conditions of the season, and that might be said of almost any ski area in the country outside of the Southwest, where snowfall has been scant.

New England, the Northeast, the East Coast, the Mid Atlantic, the Midwest, the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, the Far West, and Canada are in the grip of a fabulous snow winter. Much of the Southwest, unfortunately for resorts there, is not.

That recent trip to Mount Snow found superb cover, edge to edge as Ski Patroller John "Burnsie" Burns told OnTheSnow in the video at the end of this story, and surprisingly modest lift lines even by late morning.

Light, fluffy snowflakes flurried down for the first half of the day, adding another 3 or 4 inches to the already ample snowpack.

Ample it was, even before the most recent midweek storm dumped up to another foot and a half of snow on the region.

The day began early, as all weekend outings to any popular ski area should, given the probability that many other skiers and riders will also plan to show up.

That may have happened on Sunday, but lift lines never grew burdensome as conditions were good across the mountain, all trails and lifts were open and operating - at least to begin the day - and cold weather kept guests bouncing into the various lodges to warm up.

The fresh snow was landing on trails that were, for the most part, groomed perfectly. Some runs had been left bumpy, but signs warned skiers and riders of moguls ahead, in time to steer them onto groomers.

Four runs left one party cold enough to head indoors for a cocoa break at the Carinthia Base Lodge, then back out for more runs before an early lunch at Cuzzins in the Main Base Lodge.

Carinthia was in full swing, with the Parks Crew hard at work on Prospector installing a new log rail. Parks Supervisor Danny Stuart said features are constantly improved and added to keep guests happy.

One lift went down at Carinthia in the early afternoon; the word on the slopes was that a fuse box blew.